Barton on cutting edge with surgeries

No longer are multiple incisions necessary for hysterectomies or gall bladder removal.

Barton Memorial Hospital last week performed its first single-site hysterectomies. This means it is the first hospital in Northern California and Northern Nevada to offer the single-site surgery for both procedures. It has been doing gall bladders for more than a year.

Gynecologist John Missanelli and members of Barton’s da Vinci surgical team on Aug. 15 performed the specialized surgery through the belly button.

This means one scar for women. Until now, hysterectomies often left multiple, visible scars.

“Our physicians are among a very small group of surgeons in the region who have received training to perform this type of advanced surgery,” Clint Purvance, Barton’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

Purvance told Lake Tahoe News only the da Vinci allows for this single-site surgery for these two procedures – no other medical device can do so. Surgeons enter the body via the bellybutton.

In addition to fewer scars, this technique may reduce pain, involves less loss of blood, allows for a faster recovery and shorter hospital stay.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report